Daily Archives: July 10, 2006

TRAVEL RULES
1. Bring no expectations
2. Remember, it’s not better, it’s not worse, it’s just different.
3. Follow the leader
4. No hard or semi hard case bag can be larger than 16″x11″x25.” Further, this bag can not weigh more than 50 pounds.
5. Acquire and sign your passporta. pack a copy of it away from your personb. give a copy to your leaderc. have a copy where a responsible person can fax it to youd. Fill out the contact page of your passport in pencil
6. Eat yogurt daily, beginning 30 days before departure
7. Learn about the culture that you are traveling to
8. Take two extra passport photos
9. Keep those things which are valuable to you in your carry on, if you can’t do without it, don’t check it… this is true for equipment as well as sentimental stuff
10. Never lose track of your passport and plane ticket
11. Keep prescription medicines in their original container
12. Never cut it close time-wise at the airport
13. Wear comfortable shoes that support your feet
14. Pack a clean shirt and undergarments and toiletries in your carry on so that you are prepared when they lose your luggage
15. Never leave behind a clean napkin, you never know when it might be helpful
16. When you find a clean rest room, use it, you can’t be sure when you will see another one and tell your team mates where it is.
17. A packet of hand wipes or a container of anti-bacterial hand cleaner is prudent.
18. American noisiness and abrupt behavior is annoying to Europeans, keep your voice and laughter as quiet and civil as possible
19. NEVER USE TRAVELLERS CHECKS, take an atm card and be very careful with it, don’t be careless at the atm machine (which are called “banc-o-mats”).
20. Learning some simple phrases and striving to learn more from your friends abroad will do much to win their hearts
21. Bring earplugs……..not because of that, but because of living in a city, and ya’ll country folks may not be used to all the sounds of busses and trolleys and people and such at 4:30 in the morning!
22. Always be ready to try food that your host offers, remember rule number one
23. Frequently review rules one and two
24. Leaders – use plastic whenever possible to lessen trips to ATMS for cash.

back in the land of busy-ness

so im travelin in the usa, but not home yet… after a week of various kinds of testing on the last leg of the trip, the team is back in the usa…

the last week was also a time where i could just get to some emails and no blogging… so here i am again…

here’s a question I thinking about…

is mission about doing, being or both?

we have to dwell in Him to be empowered to do, then we make ourselves availble to Him because we are willing… not because we are able… so its both… BUT if we are not willing to just BE, how can we do???

Some of us on the trip spent some time one afternoon talking about the spiritual disiplines… here are some notes from that conversation and from some of my subsequent thinking and related reading…